| Len's uncle
A night in a Berlin hotel
Well, we went on straight, and we came to the city of Berlin. In Berlin, not knowing the city, I wanted a hotel, and I told the cabman to take me to a hotel, and he took me to Friederichstrasse Hotel. It was one of the biggest hotels in Berlin at that time. I have never been to a hotel like that in all my life. The fact is that I never was at a hotel. I visited many hotels because known people had come, and I went to welcome them, so I.., but myself, I was never a guest at any hotel in my life. And here, I went into the hotel.
I had such a miserable headache. I think I had a headache because of the strain, and maybe I was afraid also to some extent. But here, I came peacefully to Berlin, and I wouldn’t be disturbed anymore. So, I went, and I saw a bed. It’s a bed like they call here a queen bed. I never saw a bed like that in my life, either. Big wide bed and beautifully made, and the room was tremendously big. It was 3 or 4 times as large as an American hotel room. I never saw such rooms. So beautiful. Beautiful paintings on the wall, modern art. Now, that whole business was 3 marks a day. That was a lot of money. Three marks was American a dollar and a half, but that was a lot of money, very much.
Before I had time to close my eyes, a knock on the door. I walked to the door and I opened it. A beautiful girl, almost half dressed. She says, “Did you call me?”
I said, “I haven’t called anybody. I never called anybody.” I said, “I have a miserable headache, and I want to rest. Please.” So, she went away.
In about an hour, hour and a half, another knock on the door, and a girl said, “Have you called for help?”
I said, “No, no. I never called anybody.” So this was in it [sic]. Then two girls came to the door. Both of them were young, very young and very beautiful. Well, I, do you know, that until recent years, until 60, 70 years ago, it didn’t occur to me what they wanted. I really thought they wanted to be of some help.
Well, anyway, the next morning, I felt a lot better. That was Berlin.
So, I went to take a look at the city of Berlin. It was very cold. It was in February, and what I saw there amazed me. I passed by, I walked a lot. So I saw a skating place, skating on ice, ice skates. And I certainly envied them. I saw fathers and mothers and children holding hands and skating together. Four of them running across the ice. So, I thought to myself, I never had that pleasure in my life, going with my father and mother, and enjoying such life. I saw the people. Those men were in uniform, some of them.. I thought one of them was a general. And generally it was a wonderful group of people all over.
And at that time those cursed Germans seem to have been human beings. When I carried, when I got off the train in Berlin, and I carried my suitcase, there were so many people running up to me, offering their help to carry the suitcase for me, even women, because I looked like an immigrant. They knew right away that I was a foreigner. I wore a tall caracul hat, and I wore a coat with a caracul collar. I was dressed like a prince. But they knew right away that I was a foreigner, because a German never dresses like that. I didn’t see one fur hat on a man in Germany, in Berlin.
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